Simple Soda Bread
5 min read
$0.66 recipe / $0.08 serving
Written by Monti – Price range Bytes
Once I couldn’t afford a $4 loaf of bread on my $10-a-day meals price range, I turned to soda bread. I might make a loaf each morning, slice it, and prime it with scrambled eggs, mashed avocado, or butter. I’d serve it as a companion in crime with easy salads and soups. I even used it on an episode of MasterChef (I competed on Season 3), and Gordon Ramsay beloved it. This recipe may be very straightforward to place collectively and extremely budget-friendly. Get able to put this one in heavy rotation!

What’s Particular About Soda Bread?
Soda bread is a fast bread with a tough outer crust and a dense, tight crumb. Fast breads are leavened with baking powder or soda as an alternative of yeast. So, if you happen to’ve had a muffin, cornbread, biscuits, or banana bread, you’ve had fast bread. Soda bread is leavened with baking soda, which provides it its namesake.
What You Want
You want simply 4 substances to make soda bread: flour, baking soda, a bit salt, and buttermilk. The baking soda reacts with the acidity of the buttermilk, creating tiny bubbles within the dough, giving soda bread its signature texture. You don’t even must knead it. It’s really easy that I may make it with a two-year-old at my knees screaming for Yo Gabba Gabba. (In case you are presently sharing area with a two-year-old, my ideas and prayers are with you. #neveragain)
Why Don’t You Want To Knead It?
You knead bread to develop gluten strands, rubberband-like proteins that assist bread rise. They create a web that traps all the gasoline developed by bread made with yeast. As a result of soda bread is just not yeasted bread, kneading it simply makes it dense and laborious. To develop its trademark mushy crumb, you contact the dough as little as attainable whereas shaping it.

The place Does This Recipe Come From?
Many cultures worldwide make some type of soda bread, and it’s thought to have been created by Native Individuals. Nonetheless, probably the most generally recognized recipe is for Irish soda bread. It grew to become a preferred recipe in Eire through the famine when bread needed to be comprised of low cost substances: mushy wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and bitter milk.
What Else Can I Add To Soda Bread?
Historically, Irish soda bread is simply 4 substances. However Irish Individuals add currants or caraway seeds to the dough. You can too add a number of teaspoons of citrus zest or your favourite contemporary herbs. For a enjoyable twist, strive it with Every little thing Bagel seasoning. It’s really a clean canvas, so don’t be scared to experiment along with your favourite flavors.
What To Serve With Soda Bread
Soda bread is ideal for sopping up that final little bit of sauce or stew. For an ideal pairing, take a look at these recipes.

Simple Soda Bread
This Simple Soda Bread recipe is budget-friendly, and endlessly adaptable. It’s additionally a stone-cold stunner. It bought props from Gordon Ramsay!
Servings: 8 slices
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.27)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.01)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.06)
- 1 cup buttermilk* ($0.32)
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Set a rack in the course of your oven and preheat it to 450°F. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a big bowl till they’re totally included.
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Kind a effectively within the heart of the flour combination and fill the effectively with the buttermilk.
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Use a fork to include the flour into the buttermilk little by little till a thick batter varieties. Use your palms to include the ultimate bits of flour and gently form the batter right into a dough. Don’t overwork the dough.
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Switch the dough to a floured work floor and gently form it right into a spherical 6 inches in diameter and about 1 1/2 inches thick.
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Place the dough in a Dutch oven or forged iron skillet. Use a pointy knife to chop a big x into the highest of the dough.
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Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then decrease the oven temperature to 400°F and proceed baking till the bread is golden brown and crusty on the skin, about 20 minutes. Switch to a rack and funky.
*For those who don’t have buttermilk, merely take a cup of milk and add one tablespoon of vinegar to it to create your individual buttermilk. I normally use distilled white, however any vinegar will do. You can too use citrus juice.
See how we calculate recipe prices right here.
Serving: 1 slice ・ Energy: 132 kcal ・ Carbohydrates: 25 g ・ Protein: 4 g ・ Fats: 1 g ・ Sodium: 246 mg ・ Fiber: 1 g
Dietary values are estimates solely. See our full diet disclaimer right here.
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How one can Make Simple Soda Bread – Step by Step Photographs

Set a rack in the course of your oven and preheat to 450°F. Combine the two cups of flour, the 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and the 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a big bowl till they’re totally included.

Kind a effectively within the heart of the flour combination and fill the effectively with the buttermilk.

Use a fork to include the flour into the buttermilk little by little till a thick batter varieties. Use your palms to include the ultimate bits of flour and gently form the batter right into a dough. Don’t overwork the dough.

Switch the dough to a floured work floor and gently form it right into a spherical 6 inches in diameter and about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Place the loaf in a Dutch oven or forged iron skillet. Use a pointy knife to chop a big x into the highest of the dough.

Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F. Then decrease the oven temperature to 400°F and proceed baking till the bread is golden brown and crusty on the skin, about 20 minutes. Switch to a rack and funky.

Benefit from the heat, cozy soda bread with a thick smear of butter and your favourite bowl of soup!